Utility

Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue

Each Cooperation Circle is an example of people who, despite different beliefs, work together in harmony.

URI Cooperation Circles must include members of at least three different religions or traditions. By respecting the differences and embracing the commonalities between groups, peacebuilders build bridges of understanding.

Examples of our work in this Action Area:

Sun Devils Are Better Together (SunDABT), a university student group and URI Cooperation Circle, creates safe spaces for people to ask respectful questions about other religions by holding signs that read, "Meet a Muslim," "Meet a Jew," etc.

The URI global community celebrates UN World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW) with hundreds of interfaith gatherings worldwide every September. Two URI groups have even been honored with the highly-competitive WIHW prize.

Campinas CC in Brazil hosted an interfaith gathering and invited representatives of multiple religious and faith beliefs to talk about life and death from the perspectives of their tradition.

Search for Cooperation Circles (CCs) with a focus on Interfaith/Intercultural Understanding & Dialogue

In the background of ongoing violence on the border of Israel and Gaza, a recent terror attack in Jerusalem, and a tense security situation, we invited Christian, Druze, Jewish and Muslim women to our TRUST WIN celebration of Sukkot and the International Day of Peace.

The participants were Muslim, Druze, Christian, and Jewish women who had lost sons and husbands to religiously-motivated violence. Most had never celebrated the holiday before and were thrilled by the new experience.